Erised Investigations
by Zgirl714
Summary: Set in Draco's future.
1. Default Chapter

Title:Erised Investigations Author:Sami or Zgirl714 Disclaimer:I don't own Draco. That lovely privalage belongs to J.K Rowlings. Notes: The story is in Draco's future. It's set in the good old U.S.A.  
  
A teenage vampire, with green hair no less, was hunting. He had his eyes on this pretty brunette. She wasn't unusual except for this aura you could say that surrounded her. She was in the crowd dancing. Then the most amazing thing happened. She looked up and met his eyes. Her eyes were green and beckoned him to her. She slipped away from the crowd and went straight to his table.  
  
"You wanna get out of here?" she said flirting. Her smile was amazingly bright and her personality was cheerful.  
  
/This is to easy/ The vampire thought.  
  
"Sure. Why not?"  
  
Leaning over, giving him a good look at her chest, she replied.  
  
"I'm kinda new around here. I'm actually a Freshmen at the University. So.would you mind showing me around?" she said smiling.  
  
"You got it babe." He said putting his arm around her, taking her outside. They walked around the corner.  
  
"So, you lived here long?" The girl asked, trying to make conversation easier on the both of them.  
  
His face shifted.  
  
"I wouldn't say living."  
  
He moved in to bite her when she took out a stake and got him right in the chest.  
  
"Wow, that face you just made was priceless." she said as he turned to dust.  
  
Suddenly, feeling eyes on her back, Emma turned around seeing a dark haired man.  
  
"So who the hell are you?"  
  
~~**3 years before**~~  
  
Draco Malfoy was laying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He was trying to sleep, but he just couldn't stop thinking about his father and the dark lord.  
  
Everyone expected him to be like his father. There were actually many qualities his father had that he wouldn't mind having-like the evil sneer (which he was perfecting by the way), devious mind, wealth, intelligence. But serving a dark wizard wasn't what he wanted.  
  
/Father must not have been thinking the day he took his oath/  
  
He felt it was the stupidest thing the elder Malfoy could have done. Being some snake wizard's butt monkey for life wasn't what Draco wanted. Sure being evil and bossing people around was fun, but at what cost? He knew that before the dark lord fell the first time he used the Malfoy fortune as his own personal piggy-bank.  
  
/It doesn't take a genius to see this war was over/  
  
Dumbledore and Potter's forces were winning more and more every day. The only reason Malfoy Manor hadn't been raided was that the Malfoy name still was feared. He knew what he had to do to save his and his mother's skins and there fortune.  
  
/But it isn't easy/.  
  
--------------------------present day--------------  
  
Making his way his way to the bar, Draco sat at the nearest stool. 2 bottles of vodka later, a dark haired guy sat down next to him. "So, you're Draco Malfoy?" the man asked. Looking at him Draco slurred, "Yeah and who the hell are you?"  
  
"Nice digs you got here" Emma Carpenter said as she walked into Erised Investigations. It was a neat little waiting room with year old magazines, cheap-yet comfortable chairs, and weird abstracts on the walls."So Mr. Mayfair how come you know so much about me," Emma asked turning around facing the man.  
  
"Well, Ms. Carpenter at the risk of sounding insane, I have the second sight and I saw you in a dream" Morris then quickly added, "I'm not insane." They looked at each other for one long minute.  
  
"Now that was an awkward silence" Emma said slowly, "OK tell me if I get straight, you saw me in a vision dream thingy and you're a seer,"  
  
"Um, no having second sight and being a seer are too different things seer get visions from a higher," he couldn't finish his sentence before Emma interrupted.  
  
"That's all well and good there Georgia boy," Emma said cutting in.  
  
"I'm from Louisiana" Mr. Mayfair snapped  
  
"Whatever, anyway why I'm I here," she said glancing over at him.  
  
"Well, I'm here too offer you a job" he replied pushing up his glasses.  
Draco noted walking into the office of Erised Investigations, that who ever owned the place had money. "Took you some time to get here" a female voice said behind him.  
  
Turning around he said in an annoyed tone, "How about you never do that."  
  
"So Mr. Mayfair gave you a job?" the girl asked, "Did he do that whole man of mystery; I know who you are but you don't know me thing?" she added without waiting for him to answer her last question.  
  
"Yeah, he said something about fighting demons and needing wizards" Draco drawled.  
  
"So your draco malfoy, I'm Minnie Lu, it's nice to meet you," while Minnie was saying her greetings, Draco took a good look at her, she was Asian and had perfect almond eyes, her hair was short only up to her chin, and had her hair in a headband.  
  
"Same here, so where is the mysterious Mr. Mayfair" Draco asked looking about the room.  
  
"Right behind you Mr. Malfoy," Morris Mayfair said from behind him, making Draco jump.  
  
In response he muttered, "What's with creeping up on people here?"  
  
Emma was sitting on a sofa in the inner office of Erised Investigations, sipping coffee and thinking about her new job. 'I do exactly what I did before, but now...I get paid' she thought to herself. As for Morrisay, or Morris Mayfair as she liked to call him, was a good boss and had seemingly endless amounts of money. She patrolled and had staked 10 vamps in 3 days, but Emma hadn't really talked to any of the other employees since she started work less than a week ago.  
  
Emma was brought out of her musings by a drawling, British voice, " hey move yourself," Emma scooted over raising on eyebrow. " I'm draco malfoy" the man said.  
  
"Emma Carpenter" she returned, two awkward silences later.  
  
"So are you a witch?", Draco asked lazily attempting to break the silence.  
  
"Yeah, I went to Alton Academy. You're a malfoy...so you must be a wizard." She replied, eyeing Draco's surprised expression, she went on "the Malfoy name is known on this side of the pond," without letting him put a word in edgewise "Hmmm Malfoy's are evil bastards, so why are you fighting evil?" she asked curiously.  
  
While she talked two words popped into draco's mind 'rude bitch' then he began to talk, "I'll have you know my parents were married, when I was born," he retorted then got up and started to walk away.  
  
"Hey you never answered my question!" Emma called to him as he waked off.  
  
"Maybe I'm bored" he shrugged.  
"OK people, we have a problem," Morris Mayfair said, leaning on a counter in the office large area. Morris looked around at all his employees, Minnie was sitting on a counter across from him, and Emma and Draco at the table. "Rasah Yemers, our fair city's very own crime queen, has been meeting with Ray, the local master vampire."  
  
"So did you see this in a dream or something?" Minnie asked from the counter.  
  
"Yes, I saw them talking, I couldn't hear anything but I got the feeling that deals were made or something, I'm not sure but I think we should check it out."  
  
Morris answered, looking over at Minnie.  
  
"OK what are we going to do about this?" Draco asked tilting his head.  
  
"How about we break in and beat some guy up till he talks" Emma suggested, shrugging.  
  
"Wow, how long did it talk you to think that up?", Draco mocked.  
  
"Mature and very original," Emma said angrily her eyes narrowing.  
  
"Is little Emma angry that I made fun of her stupid plan?" Draco said in a funny voice. Emma and Draco went on for a while, meanwhile Morris and Minnie watched and rolled their eyes, sighing. Minnie interrupted them and said, "I have a plan."  
  
Ignoring her Emma and Draco went on fighting, "You're a moron" Emma growled.  
  
"Well, you're a rude bitch" Draco shot back.  
  
"Hey people, people" Morris said trying to get there attention, he was getting fed up with their arguing.  
  
Minnie decided to put a stop to it for good and yelled, "Hey kids, listen to me, I have a plan!"  
  
Finally stopping Draco and Emma looked over at Minnie surprised "What is it?"  
  
Draco asked.  
  
"I'm gonna need Emma's help" Minnie replied.  
'I can't believe I let myself be talked into this', Emma thought pulling her short skirt down as low as she could as she walked up to the door of the bar where a lot of Rasah's guys hung out. She put on what she called her "sexy face" and went in to the bar. After ordering a drink, Emma looked around, she was trying to spot the man Morris described from his dream, 'Bingo' Emma thought, seeing the man walking toward the bar. Smiling sensually as he got close, "Hey, I know I sound kinda bold but do you wanna go home with me?" she asked bluntly. He looked surprised for a second then smiled, "You got it kitten." Taking his hand Emma lead him outside.  
Draco and Minnie were walking along in a dark alley patrolling, while Emma worked on the plan. "You think Emma will be able to do it?", Minnie asked as they walked out of the shadows and on to a brightly lit street.  
  
"If the bint keeps her mouth shut" Draco replied looking around a bit.  
  
"I think she can even though she's loud and semi-annoying." Minnie added.  
  
"Minnie, the slag's more than just semi-annoyed..." Draco never found out how Minnie would have replied, because at that moment a couple attacked.  
  
The girl, Stella, growled and whined as she scratched at Draco, "Devon they are fighting back!"  
  
Devon, the other vampire, replied "Stella, we're vampires their humans. I think they would fight back if we are tryin ta kill em." As he was talking a kitten suddenly ran near them from out of nowhere.  
  
Stella stopped fighting, looked at the cat and yipped, "Kitty!!" the started bounding after it.  
  
"Stell wait up!" he called, stopping what he was doing to chase after the girl, who was chasing after the kitten mewing.  
  
Draco and Minnie looked at each other and then at vampire couple that was running away. Minnie was the first to break the silence, "Huh that was strange." Draco simply nodded as Minnie looked down and said "hey what's that?"  
When Minnie and Draco got back to the office, they were greeted by Emma and Morris questioning a man tied to a chair. "Why is Rasah Yemers meeting with Ray?" Morris asked.  
  
The man remand silent; rolling her eyes Emma pushed Morris out of the way, "Ok Morrisey, let me handle this," looking the guy in the eyes Emma said in a dangerous tone "answer my friend here."  
  
But still the man didn't talk, shaking his head Draco went up to the pair, "and you call yourself a witch," he sneered.  
  
Her eyes narrowing, "What's that supposed to mean?" Emma snarled.  
  
Draco was opening his mouth when Morris intervened, "Don't fight now, Draco can you do better?"  
  
"Damn right I can," he said taking out his wand. He mumbled a spell and then asked "Why is Rasah meeting with Ray?"  
  
The man quickly replied, "She wants to make a deal."  
  
Smirking at both Emma and Morris, he asked "What sort of deal?"  
  
Again in the same manner the man said, "She wants to be immortal and need his help stealing this dimensional portal thing."  
  
"What does the portal thing look like?", Draco asked pointing his wand at the man.  
  
"It looks like a big ass mirror with no glass and a bunch of scribbles on the back,," he answered.  
  
"Do you know what the portal does?" Draco prodded.  
  
"No" the man replied.  
  
"Did she tell you anything else about Ray or the deal?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing more" the man said.  
  
Sighing draco asked, "You guys have anything to add?" Morris and Emma shook there heads 'no.' Draco mutter again, and said "Emma take him back where you found him."  
  
Taking the blinking man by the arm Emma asked Draco "Memory charm?" Draco nodded.  
  
After Emma left Minnie, who had be in the background for the time, asked "So what are we going to do now?"-  
  
Devon had his arm around Stella when a thought came to him. /Oh shit/ Devon thought as he searched his pockets. "Oh shit! Oh shit!" He said echoing his thoughts as he came up with nothing. "What is it?" Stella asked, concerned. Paler than usual he replied, "I can't find the coin."  
  
The day after the Erised Investigations crew questioned Rasah Yemers's guy, Minnie was folding laundry and singing "My Girl," when a coin fell out of a pair of jeans. Putting down the jeans and picking up the coin Minnie looked at it, turning it over in her hands. "What's this?" she wondered aloud, putting it in her pocket. She went back to her laundry. Making a face she picked the jeans back up. /I'll show it to Morris later/  
  
------------------------------Later that Day-------------------------------- --  
  
"Howdy, Min, Morrissey," Emma said as she walked in to Erised headquarters. Walking over to Minnie she asked, "What's with the quarter?" Morris pushing up his glasses, answered for Minnie, "It's a coin Minnie and Draco found after a fight with a few vampires." Emma leaned closer, looking at the coin, and said "Looks like a Canadian quarter." Looking at Emma, a puzzled Minnie asked, "How does it look Canadian?" Rolling her eyes Emma replied, "It's funny looking like a Canadian quarter and has the same ooky vibe." A confused Morris inquired, "Canadian coins have a 'ooky vibe'? How do Canadian coins have ooky vibes?" Sighing, Emma replied "Canadian coins have an ooky vibe because they-" neither Minnie nor Morris ever found out why Canadian coins have ooky vibes when "Draco burst in and exclaimed - "The art museum was robbed!"  
  
Morris flicked on the TV as the whole gang crowded around the set. The news was on and the anchorperson was talking about the robbery. When the sports scores came on Draco stood up and turned off the TV.  
  
"Rasah and Ray stole the portal," he said matter-of-factly. (Here it is again.the run on dialogue business that you've got going on!!) From her seat Emma said, "Thanks for pointing out the obvious" Draco was opening his mouth to say something when Minnie cut him off and asked in a small voice, "Um, who was researching the portal?" she looked around then continued, "cuz I looked some stuff up about it, did anyone else?" Sighing and looking at the ground Morris replied, "I guess you were the only one." Gritting his teeth Draco said, "Well isn't this bloody brilliant, thank the ever bleeding lord that we have one person here with brains." Draco's eye ticed a bit when he continued "Minnie what did you find out about the portal?" /scary guy/ Minnie thought but said, "Well, there wasn't much, but thank goodness that the description was good enough so it narrows the search down. The portal allows a sorcerer to bring vampires or other minor demons to and from different dimensions" Shaking his head Morris asked "Why would Rasah want to bring forth demons from other dimensions?" Leaning her head back Emma answered, "That's the million dollar question"  
  
Rasah Yemers was looking down at the city from her penthouse. Glazing the glass lightly with her fingertip Rasah walked along the length of the window. Tilting her head, she looked at the portal and ran her finger from the windows to the portal's writing. Rasah started reading the ancient Nubian aloud "bring the demon from worlds different yet the same..."  
  
"Yet the same, consequences unnamed, " Minnie finish reading aloud looking up from her book. Emma said, "Whoa heavy" then went back to her book. The whole Erised Investigations crew were researching the portal; they had been at it for an hour going after the leads Minnie got last night. Throwing his book down Draco said, "We've looked through all these books and there's nothing more." Morris raised an eyebrow, while Emma and Minnie just looked at him. Making a face, Draco said "don't give me those looks, I just said what everyone was thinking." Shaking her head Emma looked back down at her book. She read a few sentences before looking up, "You guys I think I found something."  
  
Rasah looked at the window away from one of her men. "What do you mean we'll have to wait for Jormungand's day?" Looking down the man mumbled, "I mean that's the best day so nothing will go wrong and fortunately Jormungand's day is in a week." Still looking out the window at the skyline she replied sighing, "Fine, now get out of my sight." as Rasah turned fully around facing the window the man scrambled out. Frowning, Rasah looked out at the buildings, windows darkened as the sun went down. She never noticed Ray till he put his arms around her, kissing her cheek in way of greeting.  
  
Draco was walking lazily next to Emma. They were on patrol and Draco was really bored.  
  
"So what's your story," he asked breaking the silence. Emma, looking at him, shrugged "Well my parents were wizards and went to Alton."  
  
"I've already gotten to that part. Why are you here working for Morris," She replied, "I've had some run in with vampires. I know how to handle them and Morris saw me staking one and he offered me a job." Looking at Emma through the corner of his eye Draco sighed.  
Minnie walked down the cement stairs, and upon reaching the bottom the door opened.  
  
"I need information Toby," Minnie said as she walked passed the boy. Minnie flopped down on chair.  
  
"What do you need Min?" Toby asked taking a seat on a nearby chair.  
  
"I need info on Rasah Yemers" taking a look at his face she continued, "just general information, hack a few files and all that computer stuff." Getting up from his seat he made his way to the computer, sitting down he got to work. Minnie looked over his shoulder reading the screen. "Hey can you print that out and that?" Minnie said pointing to some text on he computer screen. As the pages where printing Toby asked, "What's with the sudden curiosity about some human albeit a human with a lot of connections," Minnie answered "Well let me tell you about this new job..."  
  
Morris was having a good dream; he and his cousin Mona were having a picnic; when the phone rang. He jumped out of his seat knocking books down in his wake as he stumbled to the phone. "H-h-hello?" he stuttered still half asleep. "Morris its Minnie and I got some information about Rasah from a friend of mine. See you in a bit." Putting the phone down Morris muttered "I guess I'll just assemble the troops."  
  
Minnie put all the printouts on Rasah in front of Morris, getting a paper cut in the process. She stuck her finger in her mouth while Morris looked through the papers. Emma and Draco were lounging in chairs around the table arguing over which game was better Quodpot or Quidditch. Minnie took her finger out of her mouth and noticed how it was all healed. "Connected to the Formorian Mafia...occult black market" Morris muttered as he read. "All you do is get covered in slime playing Quodpot. What's so fun about it?" Draco said after Emma made an insulting remark about Quidditch. "What's fun about Quodpot, just about everything." Minnie pointed to a paragraph at the bottom of the page Morris was reading, "Look, isn't that really out of place?" Squinting for a second Morris read the paragraph 'Rasah Yemers, age 17, sole survivor of gang shootout.' Raising an eyebrow Morris admitted "not really Minnie what are you getting at?" Sighing she said "everything else on here is about her from 25 to present day. This is the only thing about her that I could find before then. And read on, it says that she was in National Junior Honors Society and was a cheerleader. Her parents were upstanding citizens. How come 8 years later she's a criminal? It doesn't make sense." Massaging the bridge of his nose Morris thought about it. "You're right, we need to know more about the missing years and what happened when she was seventeen." Draco and Emma were too involved in their debate about wizarding sports that they didn't noticed Minnie and Morris's breakthrough. "Yo!" Minnie said trying to get their attention. Morris getting an idea yelled "Both Quapot and Quidditch suck!" Both whipped their heads around to look at Morris. Smiling, he said, "Now that I've got your attention, here's what we found out."  
  
Ray was grinning the vampire minion noticed, which didn't herald pleasant things. "The plan is progressing well into fruition," Ray said as he looked at all his fledglings and minions noticing their number had shrunken. Frowning he barked, "Where's Mike, Marlene, and Donny?" A shaking minion came forward "they were...staked master." She said meekly her eyes downward in submission. "Who's staking them?" He yelled, "Well who's the self styled slayer?" Pointing to the vampires, "Who is it?" Shaking even more than before she answered, "It's a group lead by a man with a southern accent." Ray thought for a second, slowly he asked, "How old were Mike and the rest?" "Just fledges," she said eyes still glued to the floor. "Well If you see them kill 'em" Ray said shrugging, "if they prove to be more interfering, then we'll take action. But at the moment there are bigger fish to fry. You all know what to do, now leave." The female minion that had spoken up turned to follow the other when Ray's voice rang out "Arianna stay"  
  
"Emma, you and Minnie go to the library and try to find anything on Rasah or her parents." Morris said getting up and putting the printouts in a pile. While Emma and Minnie got their coats and went through the door. "Er, what do I do, Morris?" Draco asked, getting up. Morris thought for a second, "Do you have any spells that would help?" Raising an eyebrow Draco said, "None that come to mind but I'll see to it." He went over to the bookshelf and got an advanced spell book. Draco was flipping through the book when a thought came to him, "Morris, where did you get the idea for this place?" Morris cleared his throat, "Beg pardon?" Smirking, Draco asked again. "Oh, I heard of a place like this in Los Angeles and I thought it was a good idea..." Morris said nervously. "So you copied some guy...ok." Draco said and then went back to his book.  
  
Morris and Draco had been researching for two hours, when Draco noticed that the sun had gone down. "Morris, I'm going to patrol." Morris answered without looking up, "Take care, then." Draco put on his coat and walked out the door. As Draco walked out the door, a hand pulled him into an alley. Draco stared into the eyes of a vampire and then darkness.  
  
When Draco came to, he found he was tied up. Shaking his head he looked around, next to him was Minnie looking as if she had been beaten. Where's Emma? He thought as he struggled with his bonds. "Draco," Emma called out from the shadows. Looking up Draco asked, "Where are you and where are we?" Emma walked out of the darkness, Draco saw with horror that instead of the face of a pretty girl. She now wore the facade of a vampire. She walked closer, "Draco, don't go looking for your wand because it isn't there." Draco frowned at the fact she knew what he was doing. Emma knelt down in front of him, putting a hand on each side of his face. " You're a pretty boy, you know that? Do you want to stay pretty forever? Well, it doesn't matter if you want to or not." Draco started to struggle even more, trying to get away from Emma. Emma took her hands from his face and put them on his shoulders, "Don't worry it won't hurt, much. Besides what's a little pain for immortality?" "Why are you doing this Emma? You hate me, we fight all the time," Draco asked frantically. Emma stared into his eyes, "I don't hate you, arguing with you is fun. Now close your eyes." Draco closed his eyes and hoped Morris would come and save him. He felt Emma's fangs sink into his pale, tender flesh and suck the life from him. The last thing he saw before the darkness was Minnie working to get free. 


	2. Knocked Down

Minnie was smacking Draco, the sound echoed off the walls, "Wake up, wake up." He wasn't waking up. She started to shake him, "Come on you foul mouthed bleach blonde Englishmen!" Draco started to blink and muttered, "I don't bleach, hairs naturally this color." She started to cry and hug him at the same time, " I thought that you had died, I was so scared." Draco patted her back, "There, there, we have to leave." Wiping her eyes and getting up, Minnie said, "Oh." Draco wobbly got to his feet and walked towards the door, "Um, why I'm I not a vampire?" "Some guy threw Emma off you and dragged her out of here." Draco thought for a second, "She has my wand, so how can we get out?" "Your guess is as good as-" Minnie said before being interrupted by Draco. "Where did she land?" "What?" Minnie asked confused. Patiently Draco explained, "When Emma got thrown off me, where did she land?" Minnie pointed, "Over there." Draco went to where she pointed and looked around. " Too damn dark," he muttered. He went down on his hands and knees and searched around for something. "What are you looking for?" Minnie asked. Draco looked over his shoulder at her, and in an exasperated voice said, "For a clever girl, your not very bright. I'm looking for my wand, it could have slipped out of her pocket, when she fell." He went back to his work. "Found it," he said getting up and brushing off his knees with his free hand. "Aloha Mora," he said and the door opened with a bang. Minnie's eyes went round for a second, "Cool." Draco looked over at her and said, "Let's go." They ran down the dim, dingy gray hallway. Draco looked around when they got to the end, "Where are the guards?" Minnie shook her head," I don't know." He grabbed Minnie's hand and took her down the left side in the fork in the hallway. "How are we going to get out of here?" Minnie asked quietly. "I don't know. I don't have a plan or strategy. I'm just making this up as I go." They reached an elevator, Minnie noticed her reflection in the steel door, the swelling on her face had gone down. "You know what an elevator is right?" Minnie asked when she saw the confused look on his face. "Yeah, I know what an elevator is, I did spend three years around muggles before I met you." He continued, "I'm just confused about the whole situation." He reached out and pushed the up button. The elevator door split open revealing an empty elevator shaft. "Now we know why there were no guards," Draco said dryly. "Which way do we go? Down or Up? Can we go anywhere?" Minnie asked looking down the hole. "I think we go up, because there seems to be only two levels below us and I'll levitate us up." Minnie looked at him and asked fearfully, "Levitate? As in the air, high off the ground?" "Yeah, what are you afraid of heights?" He asked with a chuckle, the chuckle died when he saw the look on Minnie's face, "You are aren't you? Well, time to get over it." Minnie grimaced and stepped up to the elevator, "OK, beam me up Scottie." Draco looked at her surprised, "I thought I'd have to put a body bind on you. And who's Scottie?" Minnie giggled a bit in an insane 'I'm really terrified' kind of way. She was as pale as a ghost and gulped before saying, "I'm more scared of what could happen to us than heights and never mind about Scottie." Draco nodded and got to work. Their flight up was pretty uneventful besides Draco having some difficulty staying airborne and finding the right door. Draco ending up going first to find the door and then got Minnie. Minnie fell to the ground once she got into the doorway; the nail marks around her mouth were livid compared to her unusually pale skin. Draco walked over to her and helped her up; he drew circles on her back and murmured soothing words. "Are you all right?" Draco asked after a minute. Minnie shook herself and nodded. They stealthily walked down the white hallway, ears out for any sign of vampires.  
  
The words of the Riflehiem Chronicles were blurring together to make squiggles and swim around under Morris's eyes. He looked up and rubbed his eyes. "Wonder what the girls found out," he muttered as he got to his feet. He puttered around the office turning off lights and throwing away the various wrappers that had accumulated during their research party. He grabbed his coat and walked out the door. Half way down the street, a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed him by the throat. The hand held him at an awkward angle. A sinister lisping voice whispered, " We already got the girl and the blonde boy, so you're the useless one. They said I could make dinner out of you." Suddenly the vampire was thrown back. Morris looked down on the stunned vamp, "Not so useless I'am I. Now where are Draco and Minnie?"  
  
Draco tripped on his own foot. He crashed to the floor. Minnie helped him to his feet, "What's wrong with you?" Draco shook his head, "Sorry, the white walls are..." "Disorienting?" Morris asked. Minnie and Draco's jaws dropped to the floor. "How did you get in?" Minnie asked confused and grateful. "I slipped the doorman a twenty." Morris said matter-of-fact. Draco raised an eyebrow, "A twenty? Well, strange as the methods may be, I can't argue with the results." Minnie looked back and forth between Draco and Morris, "Can we please get out of here?" Without a word they walked down the hallway. They reached a lobby, with rich, lush oriental carpets and ferns aplenty. The red walls and decadent furbishing were in sharp contrast to the completely white hallway that they came from. Thankfully the lobby was basically deserted, with only the doorman and clerk in attendance. Striding across the carpets and past the overstuffed gold matched sofa and chairs set, they tried to act like they belong (belonged). Morris gave the doorman another twenty with the words 'we were never here'. The whole group remained silent until they had walked a few blocks away from Rasah's headquarters. Morris hailed a cab. Once they were situated inside Draco and Minnie started to question him. "How did you know where we were?" Minnie asked rubbing her injured cheek. Morris quickly explained about how a vampire tried to kidnap him and that he interrogated him. Draco, looking impressed said, "Damn fine job there." He continued, "But why were we able to get out so easily?" Morris shrugged and said, "We aren't very important, I'm afraid. Besides I think they are way too busy with their preparations for Jormungand's day. They have a lot to do in a very little time, they only have less than a week." He asked as if he just realized something, "Where's Emma? Did she get taken too?" Draco and Minnie looked at one another, they hadn't thought about the fact that Emma was dead, having been preoccupied with escaping. Draco started to say something but just looked up at the ceiling and pushed his hair out of his face. Minnie frowned and bit on her lip, trying to figure out what to say. Morris looked back and forth between them. The cab came to a stop, he paid the driver. They got wearily out of the cab. They walked up to the office. Morris asked again, "Where's Emma? What happened?"  
  
Minnie looked at him when they reached the office door, "She got turned into a vampire." Morris stared dully at her, "What? A vampire?" Draco pulled his collar down, "If you don't believe her here's the bite marks to prove it." Morris looked at them and poked them as if he didn't believe that they were real. Draco hissed and pulled away from him, "I said look, not touch." Morris shook his head and started to put the key in the lock and open the door. Minnie looked at Draco alarmed with their boss' lack of reaction to the news, Draco just shrugged as a reply. They followed Morris into the office. Minnie ran into the office kitchenette. Morris was hunched over the counter, his slightly tanned arms quaking as he struggled to compose himself. He jumped hearing the front door slam shut. Minnie just stood looking everywhere but at Morris, trying to find the right words. "I got her into this you know." Morris's gruff words filled with sadness and guilt got Minnie out of her thoughts. Draco who had just come in said, "She knew the risks. Hell, she was a vampire hunter before she came here. Your not responsible, Rasah is." Morris looked at him and frowned, "I know but I don't." He shook his head and took a deep breath, "We have to find out more about Rasah and what she's doing. By the time were done with this research I want to be able to know every minute detail." Draco nodded, "What about Ray?" Minnie looked at both of them baffled at how they were able to get back to business. "Him too." Morris asked Minnie, "What did you find out when you were researching?" She frowned and paused before answering, "The same sort of thing we already knew. Clean cut parents and Brady bunch upbringing. Minus the siblings."  
  
"Lets hit the books and look for stuff about Ray." Morris looked at their weary faces, "Or I can look for stuff and you two can nap." Relief spread across their faces, nodding they took their leave. Morris went to the phone, picking up a blue address book he did a balancing act as he looked up numbers and chatted with contacts. Minnie sat up, whispering the word 'Emma'. She looked around, near tears. Getting up she accidentally hit Draco's elbow with her foot, he frowned and rolled over in to the sofa. She made her way to the round research table. "Find anything out?" She asked as she sat down. Morris looked up from a book and said, "I found out from a friend in the Watchers Council that Ray is only around eighty. He's a businessman and has invested in crime operations before. That's about it, oh and he has a lot of minions and most other vampires think he's an upstart." Morris sipped his coffee and looked at Minnie, his gray eyes piercing. "He's very secretive, unlike most vampires. He doesn't go for big displays of carnage or destruction." "So we know hardly anything about him," Minnie said fatalistically. Morris, noticing something was wrong asked, "Minnie, is there something bothering you?" Minnie looked down at the table trying to hide the tears in her eyes. She looked up tears streaming down her face, "We didn't even think about her being dead. Until you asked in the cab, we didn't even give her a thought."  
  
Morris took her hand and gave it a little squeeze, "Min, that is normal. You were in a life and death situation. You were just thinking about how to save yourself and Draco." Minnie took her hand back, "That's it! When she got dragged off to get killed, I thought better her than me!" She continued in a whisper, "I'm a horrible person." Morris went over and hugged her, whispering in her ear, "Your not a horrible person, what you thought was natural." Minnie asked in a quiet husky voice, "How can you be so calm and be over it." Morris pushed her away and looked in to her eyes, "I'm not over it, Emma was a good person and I lead her into this. I'm just prioritizing." Draco walked into the room and leaned against the doorframe, "So what did you find out and when can we destroy Rasah? Because we really made a dog's dinner out of it the last time" 


End file.
